Silence, Presence, Awareness
A quick recap of the foundational triple
One of the samizdat books whose wisdom I’ve been tapping for inspiration says, “At all times, literally every second, do three things: stop your internal monologue, sense your body, and be aware of your actions.” Although I don’t think it’s either viable or meaningful to maintain that state of mind at all times, it’s still an extremely useful exercise. First of all, because it makes you track several modalities at once.
My version of it is somewhat different from the one from the book. It’s also worth mentioning that I’ve found it easiest to perform during a solitary walk. That may differ for you, of course. Alright, here it is:
Stop mulling over sentences and words in your head. Go over to the visual internal monologue and stop it too, to the extent it’s possible for you. Basically, there is an instance of the internal monologue process for each of your senses and each semantic “parser” in your head — you can practice stopping them separately and apply all those skills together during this exercise.
Feel your body, tip to toe. Trace any discomfort that may arise from any part of it. Don’t forget about your (quite probably) clenched jaws and tightened face!
Now, the awareness part. I usually split it into three subroutines:
Scanner. The closest thing to Alexander Technique in my arsenal. You spread a fraction of your attention as widely as possible, keeping your surroundings in your immediate focus.
Driver. What impulses nudge you to do this or that? Why do you walk in the direction you do? All those answers should be felt, not spoken (remember, you have disabled your internal monologue).
Identity-wielder. The felt sense of who you are. Not a narrative about you, but a sensation of what you are in the world. There are a couple of extra lenses I think are interesting. First, you can see yourself as a part of the world, flesh of its flesh, in total harmony with the universal order. Second, and opposite, you can exist as an absolute alien to this world, a planeswalker visiting the mortal realm and assuming the current shape.
There is another powerful perspective, somewhat related to identity awareness: feel as if you are not your body, but an ethereal pilot manipulating a corporeal vessel. I guess there are many consequential revelations for any of us in that direction, in particular we can work on our fear management much more efficiently if we learn to dissociate from our bodies. Though some may argue it’s not a healthy thing to do. Who knows.
It may be hard to experience all those ideas simultaneously but it’s possible. I don’t think anyone should spend too much time on this because of diminishing returns, too.
You might have noticed that the posts tend to be more concise lately. It is a feature, not a bug. I think it’s better to employ the progressive JPEG method: laying out the core ideas and then elaborating on the parts that require elaboration.
If you are interested in Architect of Thought, you can:
subscribe to this newsletter,
join our Discord server,
and support the project on Patreon!
Disclaimer: all content in this newsletter and any associated platforms is for informational purposes only. It shouldn’t be construed as a call to action, medical, or psychological advice.